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Definition: a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.

Book Definition Rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.

The actual phrase "catch-22" was coined in 1961 by the author of the book "Catch-22", Joseph Heller.

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The author of "Catch-22" was born in 1923, and served as an Air Force bombardier in World War II. He went on to have a long career as a writer and teacher after the war. His book "Catch-22" was written through the point of view of a bombardier during the war. It was the first book that really changed the way people looked at war, because it was a stark contrast to the way that the media had previously been painting war. It gave it a gruesome image of violence, bureaucracy, and paradoxical madness that stripped away any romantic pretenses from combat.

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The novel is set during World War II, and for the most part it takes place on the island of Pianosa, which is off the coast of Italy in the Mediterranean Sea. It follows an Air Force squadron, which is the branch that the author, Joseph Heller, served in. The story follows one captain, and tells about many of the problems Heller himself faced while in the war. The story deals with the madness of the war from a first hand point of view, written by someone who experienced it all.

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In the context of the war, the narrator is believable and not believable at the same time. The problem with this is that we have not actually experienced the true horrors of war first hand, therefore, we do not know what goes on behind the scenes. Thus, whether or not the narrator is believable really comes from how much you want to trust what is said. One must put their imagination to use to even try to understand what is going on in these scenes. But at the end of the book, the reader always comes out with a different view of war. If they didn't, they did not read the book properly. But at the same time, one must take into consideration that while some elements of the story may be true, others are definitely not. The ending of the book itself is quite the story and not very believable. So the narrator is both believable and not believable. Either way, the reader comes out with a much more educated view of war.

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Does the narrator have access to all characters' thoughts or only one?

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Does the narrator have access to all characters' thoughts or only one?

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Yes, the narrator has access to all characters' thoughts, but all while following the story of one captain. This actually gives a certain strangeness to the novel, as the perspective will randomly jump around without warning, and it's not the easiest to keep track of. But it is interesting, as it offers insights into the war that we the readers otherwise would not have. It brings to light the craziness that war insinuates in everyone involved.

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How does the narrator's perspective affect the novel?

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How does the narrator's perspective affect the novel?

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The narrator helps bring to light how crazy war is. Also, due to the jumps from person to person in the story, if it was all first person it would be very hard to follow. The narrator also offers some sense of normalcy in that way. The narrator's perspective comes from an outside view, or third person, and it makes for easy characterization of each character and it is much easier to follow. Not only this, but the narrator also offers some brief explanations of Catch-22 and the occasional paradox found in the story, which is helpful to the reader. Overall, the narrator helps the reader understand the craziness of what happens within the war zone.

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How does the author flesh out a character that you have identified with or are intrigued by? Why?

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How does the author flesh out a character that you have identified with or are intrigued by? Why?

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The main character of the novel, Yossarian, is the character that I identify with in some sense. Due to the fact that I am not in the army, I cannot truly identify with all of his struggles. However, I can identify with the anger he feels towards the enemy and his own army. Yossarian does not understand why thousands of people are trying to kill him, and is angered by it. I can identify with this, because of societal roles. I don't understand why I am being forced to do so many things, dress a certain way, act a certain way, or be a certain way. In some ways, society is trying to kill who I desire to be as a person, which angers me. Yossarian is also angry with the people around him, because his superiors keep upping the number of missions he has to fly. I can identify with that because in band and life in general people keep adding to my list of things that I have to do. I think that this character resonates with me because I can identify with his anger, which I feel as well.

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What has the author done to create your understanding of that character?

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What has the author done to create your understanding of that character?

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To create my understanding of Yossarian, the author has done a variety of things. The author clearly displays Yossarian's actions throughout the novel, and includes his thoughts and reasoning behind said actions as well. For example, at the beginning of the novel Yossarian is in the hospital for liver pain that is not actually there. He is hiding from his responsibilities, and trying to save his own life.

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What are the moments that define the character you have connected to?

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What are the moments that define the character you have connected to?

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How fast or slow is the plot moving and how does that impact your enjoyment of the book?

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How fast or slow is the plot moving and how does that impact your enjoyment of the book?

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Are there any flashbacks? How does that work?

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Are there any flashbacks? How does that work?

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Does/Do the central character(s) change and grow?

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Does/Do the central character(s) change and grow?

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What role does the central conflict play in those changes?

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What role does the central conflict play in those changes?

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Are there any passages that astounded you with their beauty or truth or just got you thinking?

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Are there any passages that astounded you with their beauty or truth or just got you thinking?

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How does the author's use of fiction (exposition, inciting incident, conflict, rising action, turning point, etc.) keep you turning the page?

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How does the author's use of fiction (exposition, inciting incident, conflict, rising action, turning point, etc.) keep you turning the page?

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Is this book to inform, explain, or argue a point of view?

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Is this book to inform, explain, or argue a point of view?

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What are the moments that define the character you have connected to?

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What are the moments that define the character you have connected to?

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The moments that define Yossarian are when he is at the hospital with “liver pain”, the first time he learns about Catch-22, and when he starts walking around backwards and refusing to fly any more missions. In these moments, Yossarian is expressing his anger about the unfair and unjust treatment of the soldiers. These are the moments in which he is really thinking for himself.

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How fast or slow is the plot moving and how does that impact your enjoyment of the book?

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How fast or slow is the plot moving and how does that impact your enjoyment of the book?

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The plot is not a straight forward timeline. There are many moments when it jumps from narrator to narrator, and also past to present. Because of this, the plot moves both slow and fast. The style of this book is very new for me. I have never read a book that jumps around as much as Catch-22 does, so it is a little challenging to follow. The changes in point of view and the switching between past and present, and the sudden jumps in time make the book more interesting, and a little more enjoyable to read.

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The author moves time forward through the use of missions and scene changes. Most of the big time movers are when the men are partaking in a new mission, or when they go to other places outside the little island that a majority of the novel takes place on. Oftentimes, time will move forward in jumps, going along with the somewhat sporadic timeline.

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Do the central characters change and grow? 

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Do the central characters change and grow? 

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Yes, the central characters change and grow, in many different ways. For one, most of the central characters are dead by the end of the book. They have either been killed on missions, or by other means outside missions. Some characters also change emotionally as well, becoming more intricate in their thoughts and feelings. Yoassarian, at the end of the book, starts putting up a stand against the constant raising of missions they have to fly. He also partially takes the blame for Nately’s death, and tells Nately’s “whore” himself that he is dead. He finally runs away after she attempts several times to kill him. Yossarian may seem insane to the other soldiers for refusing to fly missions, but he is actually the most sane out of all of them.

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What role does the central conflict play in those changes?

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What role does the central conflict play in those changes?

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The central conflict is the war and the Catch-22. The war itself is the cause of the commanding officers continuously raising the number of missions. Due to this and the Catch-22, the men are stuck flying more and more missions, past the forty that the army had promised. This plays a role in the changes of the characters because it is the direct cause of most of the characters’ disappearances or deaths, and is the cause of Yossarian‘s anger.

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Are there any passages that astounded you with their beauty or truth or just got you thinking?

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Are there any passages that astounded you with their beauty or truth or just got you thinking?

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Yes, the first paragraph of chapter 39 really got me thinking about how Yossarian truly feels about the war and the soldiers around him. In this passage it is truly apparent that while Yossarian may seem insane to everyone around him, he may actually be the most sane character in the book, and possibly the only one who hasn’t lost his sense of self, as he is the only one concerned about self preservation.

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Are there any flashbacks? How doesn’t that work?

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Are there any flashbacks? How doesn’t that work?

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Yes there are multiple flashbacks. The flashbacks are never chapter long, they occur in stories that the soldiers tell each other. The flashbacks are typically from the soldiers’ pasts. Where they came from, stories about other people they’ve dealt with in the past, families, friends, that sort of thing. They occur in normal conversation, which makes it hard to follow sometimes because there is not always a clear divide between past and present.

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How does the author’s use of fiction (exposition, inciting incident, conflict, rising action, turning point, etc.) keep you turning the page?

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How does the author’s use of fiction (exposition, inciting incident, conflict, rising action, turning point, etc.) keep you turning the page?

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The author makes use of a lot of rushing action, conflict and surprise that keeps me turning the page. Whenever the men in the story are going on missions there is always a lot of rising action leading up to it. Personally, I am a big fan of action scenes, so that makes it easy to want to keep turning the page. The conflict in the little side stories, flashbacks and such, and the time jumps are also interesting. The surprises are numerous as well, some of the characters are suddenly randomly gone, and I keep turning pages to find out why.

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Is this book to inform, explain or argue a point of view?

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Is this book to inform, explain or argue a point of view?

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This book actually does all three. The purpose behind this book was to inform the public of the true horrors of wat in a time that it was glorified. Heller is explaining and arguing the fact that war is not pretty, it is not something that we as a society should be proud of. It is definitely not something that young men should be eager to go and be a part of.

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I know that this book is informing, arguing and explaining a point of view because it was the first of its kind. Catch-22 was the first war novel that painted war in a disgusting light, one that opened people’s eyes to the nastiness of war and what it really is. Heller also goes into a lot of detail about the insanity of war, and does not glorify it at all.

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Yossarian’s anger and indifference by the end of the book has a ripple effect on the rest of the squadron as well. By refusing to fly more missions others are starting to consider doing the same thing, which creates a lot of tension between the soldiers and commanding officers. The tension between the commanding officers themselves also has a negative effect on the soldiers, as they are caught in the cross fire of who can fly the more dangerous missions. This tension puts more stress on the reader as they go through the book.

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“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he fed he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had I fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.”

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In both texts, the soldiers in the story carried the weight of their own emotions. They carry their guilt, their anger, their confusion, and more. Each soldier is plagued by the feeling of obligation to keep fighting, even though they don’t believe in the cause, or are in too deep to understand anymore that what they are doing is wrong. But the guilt of the war and the fact that they are taking lives weighs heavily on their shoulders.

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In both texts the soldiers also carry the weight of their thoughts that plague them night and day. They suffer from nightmares, they suffer from mental illnesses, when they are trudging through the landscape or flying quietly they are accompanied only by their own mind. The insanity that comes with war takes a toll on the soldiers.

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In both books, the soldiers also are constantly wondering why they are fighting. They wonder why there are people shooting at them everyday that they don’t even know. They wonder why they are senselessly killing each other. They have to see their comrades fall everyday, and with all the lives lost they are plagued by the question “why am I doing this?”

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Yossarian feels anger towards his superiors who keep forcing him to do more and more missions. I feel anger towards people who keep asking more of me when I am already giving my all. The difference here being that my life was never on the line, just my mental stability. In that way I can connect with the book and Yossarian.

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Wondering why I am doing what I am doing

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Wondering why I am doing what I am doing

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There have been many times this semester that I have wondered what I am doing so much stuff for, just like how Yossarian wonders why people are shooting at him and is angry at them for it. He wonders why he is fighting the war. I’ve had times where I’ve wondered what I am doing this for. I have had to remind myself a few times why I am doing what I am doing.

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Like Yossarian is expected to fly more missions, I have felt pressure before from my peers, teachers, coaches and myself to keep doing more things, to push myself to be busier and take on more. And like Yossarian, I turned my back on the expectations that were being put on me, and I did what I could to do what I was capable of without taking on more. I started refusing to do things that I knew would cause me more stress, like how Yossarian refused to fly more missions.